Vision Zero to provided update to Columbia city council

COLUMBIA - As the second year of its three-year action plan wraps up, Columbia's Vision Zero team will present its progress to City Council Monday night.

The action plan was first put into place in 2017 after Columbia adopted the Vision Zero initiative in 2016.

The ultimate goal is to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and injuries by the year 2030.

The plan involves a number of initiatives that fall under the categories of engineering, education and enforcement.

So far, the plan has created a crash analysis team and a traffic unit within the Columbia Police Department.

City Council Member Matt Pitzer told KOMU 8 News these efforts are much needed.

"Any injury or death that can be prevented, we should certainly try to design a public works system that does all that we can to prevent those," he said.

In their annual report published on the city's website, Vision Zero highlights many of its achievements from the past year. Some of those actions were influenced by public input.

"With the traffic unit, that's something that a lot of the community really wanted for a long time," Pitzer said. "It's still small, but just the fact that we've put it together, there's an opportunity there for them to make more of an impact going forward."

The idea of eliminating all traffic-related incidents may seem like a lofty goal, but Pitzer thinks it is an attainable one.

"While the results from year-to-year may not be huge, I think as you slowly move the needle over time and continue to raise awareness, those are going to have some longer-term dividends," he said.